The Immigration Service Union has warned its members do not feel confident about what they need to do if they suspect someone of being ill

Border staff do not feel adequately prepared to deal with the threat of Ebola coming to the UK, a union leader has warned.

Foreign secretary Philip Hammond tried to reassure the public yesterday over fears that the deadly disease could head to Britain, saying after a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee that it was "most unlikely" it could spread within the UK.

And general secretary of the Immigration Service Union Lucy Moreton said her members were very concerned, and did not feel confident about what to do if they suspected someone of being sick.

She said: "They serve on the front line; they are the first point of contact usually for people coming off an aircraft and the concern is what do they do if they're confronted with someone that doesn't appear well who appears at the border.

"There is no health facility at the border, there is no containment facility and until extremely recently there has been no guidance to staff at all as to what they should do."

She added that members had also been contacting the union for guidance on how to protect themselves, but it had no answers to give them.

Liberia has said that it will close all schools and consider quarantining some communities in an effort to stop the spread of the disease, which kills 90% of sufferers.

All non-essential government workers in the country have also been placed on 30-day compulsory leave.

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A British doctor volunteering with Ebola victims in Sierra Leone called for more help for agencies such as Medecins Sans Frontieres working in the region.

Benjamin Black, an obstetrician from Manchester who worked in hospitals in London, has been working 24-hour shifts in a clinic in the southern city of Bo, and says doctors have been struggling to cope with the pressure.

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In an interview with Metro he described how he tried to save pregnant women struck with the disease, performing an emergency hysterectomy on one sufferer and helping a pregnant woman who had suffered severe bleeding and fever after preparing bodies of Ebola victims for a funeral.

Benjamin Black: The British doctor says medics are struggling to cope

Mr Black, said "I couldn't believe this was my first shift, on my first mission. As I operated, I kept thinking I was going to drown in the pressure."

"The main challenge here is that the health authorities just don't have the infrastructure to cope. They're overwhelmed."

Two people have been assessed for the virus in Britain.

A man was given the all-clear following tests in Birmingham after he travelled from Benin in Nigeria via Paris to the Midlands, while doctors ruled out the need for an Ebola test in a second male in west London.